Welcome to the #pokebattles IRC channel FAQ, the source for #pokebattles on the web. This site should help Poké Battlers know their way around in the channel. Here I will post all the information on #pokebattles I can find, and I'm also available for questions in #emerald. This was the first #pokebattles FAQ, however it is not the official FAQ. The official PB Guide written by Flashfire, the channel founder, can be found at http://www.pokebattles.com/rules. Please consult the PB Guide if you can't find the information you are looking for.

Notes on link format: I will be linking all the channels using mIRC's Chat Links protocol - for more info on this protocol, take a look at http://www.mirc.com/mirclink.html. At present, this only works with Internet Explorer. Sorry. Also, all the URLs will be linked, and I'm in the process of linking all nicknames to e-mail addresses. This may take quite a while, so please tell me if I've skipped over any links to channels, URLs, or nicks. Thanks!

-Andre
Webmaster of Emerald Version
Sub-Webmaster of Blue Version

Proofread by: Kirby-no-Osekkai, Duo

CONTENTS

• What Are Poké Battles?
• Getting Started
• Channel Rules and Terminology
• Channel Bots
• Channel Statistics
• Agents
• RPs and RPGs
• Channel List
• Credits
• Back to Poké Battles IRC
• Back to Emerald Version

"'Poké Battles' are quite a bit of a departure from traditional Pokémon fanfare.  A Poké Battle is a work of fanfiction which is a parody of the way battles are run in the Gameboy games.  Pokebattles.com has something of a cult following because of its unique brand of humor.  You can get started with Battle #1, or by visiting the official Support Site, which has more detailed information on the nature of Poké Battles."

-Jason Ross, Webmaster of pokebattles.com
 

Poké Battles are a different type of fan fiction. Unfamiliar with the term? It's simple: fiction written by fans of a TV show, video game, comic book, or another form of entertainment.  Now you're thinking, "What's so great about Pokémon stories?" Well, that's not quite what they are. Poké Battles are a bit different than stories. Remember the Pokémon Game Boy game, with that odd attack narration? "SQUIRTLE used WATER GUN!", right? Poké Battles writes a battle using that narration, and dialogue from the person playing the Game Boy. It's really quite brilliant. The idea was invented by Jason Ross, as quoted above, and he created the main Poké Battles page at pokebattles.com, known as Red Version. Red Version had a sub section of the site called Blue Version, where aspiring authors could write their own battles. This created amazing crossovers from Blue to Red, characters interacting. The idea was so good that Jason created the best concept yet - the Network. A band of Poké Battles sites, ranked in the order of their quality, design, and update rate, all named after colors (e.g. Aqua Version). Fans came to create their own sites, and pretty soon the Network was the most popular part of Poké Battles. What came next was mind-blowing - live Poké Battles. That's right, two people battling on ICQ with another person narrating. The idea was the best yet, so one battler, known as Russ-san (Orange Webmaster), suggested to make a chat room for everyone to battle in. The idea was greeted by silence. Then Articuno a.k.a. End (Frost Webmaster), another battler, suggested it again. Finally, Flashfire created #pokebattles on Austnet, and it was good. But Austnet was too crowded and the services weren't very good. So Seryph (Turquoise Webmaster) suggested a move to a better server, called Superchat. The suggestion was relayed to Flashfire, and I went with him to Superchat and we investigated the server. It was better than Austnet, so #pokebattles moved there. But Superchat was missing a few things, and a better server was found, so Flashfire moved the channel to EsperNet. #pokebattles became better than ever before, and that's where we are today. Now, #pokebattles is used less for battling and more for discussion about a range of topics, from anime to philosophy to computer and video games to books to music and a whole lot of other things. For information on connecting, see the Getting Started section below.

There are two ways to connect to #pokebattles. Way #1 is for anyone with an internet connection, and way #2 is for IRC client users.

Way #1 is quite easy. Enter a nickname, and click 'Connect Now!'. Wham, you're in #pokebattles. This method is referred to as the 'PBL Java Chat Applet', or simply 'the applet'. The PBL Java Chat is located at http://www.pokebattles.com/irc. (This method is better suited to Netscape users, as the free java applet doesn't work on Internet Explorer, Opera, or other browsers. There is an applet available for Internet Explorer users, but it is not free, so whenever you type, the applet will respond with an annoying message bugging you to buy the full version.)

Way #2 is a little harder, but not much, and it is more functional. First thing, you need an IRC client. We at #pokebattles mainly use mIRC to connect, but there are many ways to do it. (This FAQ only covers mIRC. Versions of the walkthrough about other clients may be available soon) mIRC (Win) is available at http://www.mirc.com, ViRC (Win), another IRC client, is at http://www.megalith.co.uk/virc, Pirch (Win) is at http://www.pirchat.com, Ircle (Mac) is at http://www.ircle.com, 54 Script (Win) is at http://www.54Script.com, and BitchX (Win, Unix) is at http://www.bitchx.com/. Once your IRC client is downloaded, it's time to connect. If you have Internet Explorer, the easy way to connect is clicking here, which will connect you with the mIRC chat link protocol. You can also set up mIRC to connect you, so you needn't come to this page every time. Boot up mIRC.EXE. Close any windows that appear, and press 'File', then 'Options'. Click on 'Add'. For 'IRC Server' type in irc.esper.net and 'Port(s)' should be 6667. 'Description' is of your own choosing. Click OK, and wait for your connection to initialize. When you are connected, type '/join #pokebattles'. Now you're in!

The people in charge, or operators, will have 'at signs' (@) next to their name. Welcome to #pokebattles, fellow battler! You can now participate in a Poké Battle yourself! If there are at least three people in the room, you can have a live battle against one person, with the other narrating. Other features of #pokebattles include the various RPGs that you can participate in. See the RPs and RPGs section for info on this.

The rules for #pokebattles are a lot more complicated than you'd think. Unfortunately, I don't have a current list of them available to post here at the moment. The PB Guide has more detailed information about the rules, so please see http://www.pokebattles.com/rules.

What's a bot? An IRC bot is a copy of your IRC client that has been programmed to react to certain things, or 'scripted'. These copies are scripted with the client's own program language. Many bots are written by the owners of IRC servers (such as NickServ and ChanServ), but some are scripted by channel members, like us Poké Battlers. According to the PB Guide, only 'useful automated scripts' are allowed in channel. For more information on scripting bots, read the FAQ at http://www.mirc.com. (Bots don't work on the PBL Java Chat.) If you want your bot to be allowed in #pokebattles, contact Flashfire and he will take a look at it. Otherwise, you can put bots in #pb, which is a channel primarily for bots and such, and the Poké Battles community often visits. Below is a list of bots that are allowed in #pokebattles:

• ^ - Logs the stats. Owner: Flashfire. Help Command: None.
• n - Logs the stats, with some other commands. Owner: Duo. Help Command: /msg n help.
• KiwiBOT - Everything from games to spying to topic changes, including the world-renowned trivia! Owner: Ciaran. Help Command: ~help.
• Panic - Casinos, RPG battle systems, a dictionary, and other cool stuff. The &clause command tells information about the rules in the PB Guide. Owner: Domingo. Help Command: &help.
• KirbyBOT - Many random commands, such as >movie and >deb. Very similar to DuoBOT (below). Owner: Kirby-no-Osekkai. Help Command: >help.

• haunter_BOT - Owner: haunter_uk. Help Command: -help.
• BloodBOT - Owner: MetalMike. Help Command: $help.
• EmeraldBOT - Owner: Andre (yours truly). Help Command: EmeraldBOT.
• Silence - Owner: Silence. Help Command: !!help.
• Duo - Owner: Duo. Help Command: @DuoBOT

• NickServ - Nick maintenance. Help Command: /msg NickServ help
• ChanServ - Channel maintenance. Help Command: /msg ChanServ help
• MemoServ - Lets you send IRC notes and memos. Help Command: /msg MemoServ help

Flashfire uses an interesting service called mIRCStats. mIRCStats records the status of people by telling the about the amount of activity, quotes, and things that people did, using the 'log files' of a channel, which the bot called '^' possesses (see the Channel Bots section for stuff about bots). The log files contain everything that is said and done in a channel, so mIRCStats can convert that into a web page. ^ has its mIRCStats web page at http://www.geocities.com/flashfire_flareon/irc/pokebattles.html.

Another Poké Battler called Duo has begun creating his own stats page, which is similar to that of Flashfire, but far more comprehensive and it is updated more frequently. The bot called 'n' logs the stats for Duo. To be logged, type /msg n hello and n will add you to its list. The web page for n's stats (which is only up while Duo is online) is at http://livestats.sytes.net:88.

If you would like to read the logs that are used in these stats pages yourself, check out Domingo's logs page, which provides up-to-the-minute accuracy while Domingo is online, at http://log.hopto.org/, or JasonR's archived logs page at http://www.pokebattles.com/logs/.

Another statistics page that has recently arisen is The PB Times. Run by Silence, with articles by Domingo, Kirby-no-Osekkai, and haunter_uk, among others, The PB Times lists items of interest to Poké Battlers in a newspaper format. The PB Times is at http://digs.s5.com/n/.

If you are using mIRC 5.8x or higher, you may or may not know about Microsoft Agent, the newest technology. Agent uses synthesized voice and animation power to create a character onscreen who talks to you. Agent has unlimited possibilities for Poké Battlers such as yourself. Imagine hearing a parrot, wizard, genie, robot, or even Doompuff reading mIRC chat to you. Now, you're probably asking where you get these characters. The standard set of Agents is available at The Agentry (http://www.agentry.net), which has over 300 different characters. Also, some Poké Battles-esque characters such as Doompuff are available from me (Andrevan) in #pokebattles from a script in my mIRC.EXE (for info on scripts, see the Channel Bots section). The command is !download. For more info on Agents, check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/msagent (Microsoft Agent Home Page) or http://www.msagentring.org (The Microsoft Agent Webring). For more info on the Doompuff Personal Assistant, take a look at http://emerald_battles.tripod.com. The basic Agent knowledge is also available in the mIRC helpfile, and more info can be found in "File|Options|Sounds|Agents" in mIRC 5.82 and above. The Doompuff Personal Assistant ReadMe file covers all these topics and more, or you can come see me in #emerald, as I know quite a bit about agents.

RPs and RPGs are very popular with Poké Battlers. There are two kinds of RPs and RPGs played in #pokebattles - ones that use real people as battle moderators and ones that use simulators (bots). An example of the former is Ditto36's IRPG Project at http://www.geocities.com/arcanine36/ which seems to be one of the more popular person-moderated RPGs that are played. It generally takes place in the channel of #IRPG. There are also various free-form RPs that take place in the #warehouse channel. One Poké Battler named Silence loves to make RPs and RPGs, and you might run into one of his RPs in #pokebattles on occasion, such as the Powers RPG. He is currently working on an RPG called Blood Eve, the channel for which is #eevahl. Blood Eve is still in the planning stages, so join this RPG while you can! Info for Blood Eve is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodeve. Among simulator-run RPs and RPGs, the most popular are those on TowerBOT, Sir_Chargon's bot, and Panic, Domingo's bot. Panic starts battles with the &battle command, and only Sir_Chargon can start TowerBOT battles. See the Channel Bots area for info on some of these bots. I don't know too much about Sir_Chargon's simulator, but it meets in #simulator and a few RPs are played using it - info on these is at the #arct channel. The #arct channel is used for OOC (out-of-character) discussion, so that's the place to inquire if you want to join an RPG that uses the simulator. For the official rules, terminology, and more information about RPing, check Flashfire's RP rules at http://www.geocities.com/flashfire_flareon/irc/RP-Rules.html.

Channels
#pokebattles - main channel for the PB community. Owner: Flashfire.
#emerald- my channel, you can ask me questions there. Owner: Andre.
#pb - channel for bots, scripts, etc. Owner: Domingo.
#irpg - official channel for the person-moderated IRCRPG. Owner: Ditto36.
#warehouse - Role-playing channel. Owner: Russ-san
#eevahl - Channel for the Blood Eve RPG. Owner: Silence
#simulator - RPG simulator bot channel. Owner: Sir_Chargon
#arct - RPG simulator bot channel for OOC conversation. Owner: Sir_Chargon

pokebattles.com credits, as written on the page:

"Poké Battles © 1999-2001 ChronoWeb Publishing"

-Jason Ross, Webmaster of pokebattles.com

Other credits:

"Poké Battles" and http:///www.pokebattles.com/ were created by Jason Ross, Webmaster of pokebattles.com, webmaster@pokebattles.com, ©1999-2001 ChronoWeb Publishing (http://www.chronoweb-publishing.com/). #pokebattles was created and is moderated by Matthew Beswick, alias Flashfire, flashfire.flareon@blueyonder.co.uk, ©2001 MB Productions Ltd (http://flashfire.8m.com/, http://www.pokebattles.com/flame). Original #pokebattles idea is credited to Russell Reeder, alias Russ-san, orangeversion@hotmail.com, (http://www.pokebattles.com/orange) and Justin <surname withheld>, alias Articuno, End, flareonl255@icqmail.com (http://www.pokebattles.com/frost). Original Superchat move idea is credited to <name withheld>, alias Seryph, HexxJo, HexxJo@aol.com (http://www.pokebattles.com/turquoise). #pokebattles started on Austnet. ©2001 Austnet Organization, (http://www.austnet.org). #pokebattles was on Superchat. ©2000 Superchat Organization, (http://www.superchat.org). #pokebattles is currently on EsperNet. © 1996-2001 EsperNet, (http://www.esper.net). Best viewed on mIRC, Internet Relay Chat client, khaled@mardam.demon.co.uk, ©2001 Khaled Mardam-Bey (http://www.mirc.com). Other IRC clients belong to respective companies. mIRCStats is ©1998-2001 Mikko 'Ave' Auvinen, (http://gamma.nic.fi/~mauvinen/mircstats/). Microsoft Agent ©1996-2001 Microsoft Corp, (http://msdn.microsoft.com).

This FAQ was written by Andre <surname withheld>, alias Andrevan, Andrevan@aol.com, ©2000 - 2001 Oblivion Productions (http://www.ericsgym.com, http://www.pokebattles.com/emerald). No part of this FAQ may be copied without permission of the respective author. ©2000 - 2001 Oblivion Productions, all rights reserved.